The National Zoological Park 447 



may share the fate of the moa, the mammoth, and other 

 animals once widely distributed but now extinct. 



The loss to zoological science in the disappearance of these 

 animals is, of course, very great, and from an economic point 

 of view the matter is by no means to be disregarded. When 

 we consider the enormous food value of the great herds of 

 bison, that, with a little care, might have been preserved 

 almost indefinitely upon those parts of the country fitted only 

 for grazing, we realize how shameful and unwise the waste 

 has been. The extirpation of the fur seal and sea otter 

 deprives this country of some millions of dollars of annual 

 revenue ; the elk and deer if carefully protected would yield 

 flesh and skins of considerable value ; the wild pigeon and 

 the prairie chicken, now nearly extinct, have had a definite 

 market value of no small amount. When we notice with 

 what care similar animals are preserved in European coun- 

 tries, and the prices that they readily command when brought 

 to market, the reckless extravagance with which the vast 

 animal resources of this continent have been wasted becomes 

 apparent. It seemed to Secretary Langley that the Institu- 

 tion might do something to bring this matter clearly before 

 the eyes of our legislators and of the public generally by 

 exhibiting specimens of the most important animals likely to 

 suffer extinction, placing them as nearly as possible in the 

 conditions natural to them so that they might breed and 

 thrive in captivity as in their native haunts. An enterprise 

 of this kind could also assist in the general diffusion of zo- 

 ological knowledge, especially if there were associated with 

 these animals that it was desired to preserve from extermi- 

 nation such specimens belonging to the fauna of widely 

 distant regions as might be useful for purposes of comparison 

 or illustration. There would thus be combined the advan- 

 tages of a park in which animals could be studied in nearly 



